Public guardian defends fees

Mar. 8, 2013

Written by

Walter F. Roche Jr.

The Tennessean

To read The Tennessean February report about the public guardian’s fees, go to Tennessean.com’s Special Reports page

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Davidson County’s public guardian claims she gave a discount from her usual hourly rate when she accompanied a ward to a Christmas concert at the Schermerhorn in 2011.

Jeanan Mills Stuart made the claim in a letter sent recently to Metro Council in response to a Tennessean report last month on her billing practices.

Stuart also told council members that she was in the process of hiring a non-family member to perform errand-like tasks for the dozens of people whose lives she oversees.

“It has always been my practice to be cost effective for my wards,” Stuart wrote in the two-page letter, adding that she was well aware that the Tennessean article “attempted to make me look like a greedy person.”

She said the article was “not fully reflective of actual events.”

The Tennessean reported that Stuart, who was appointed by Metro Council on the recommendation of Probate Judge David Randy Kennedy, often charged fees of up to $225 an hour for performing non-lawyer tasks. Using court records, The Tennessean also reported that Stuart often hired family members to do work for her wards. Her fees and any other family members’ fees come out of the ward’s estate.

Stuart has said she handles about 90 cases at any given time. She receives her appointment to be conservator for those who are deemed unable to care for themselves by Judge Kennedy.

Despite Stuart’s claim in her letter to Metro Council that she gave one of her wards, Marlene Spalding, a two-third’s discount for attending the 2011 concert of Handel’s Messiah, her fee request for that service shows she billed for five hours at the rate of $197.22, the same rate that she charged for other services including court appearances.

Stuart did not respond Friday to The Tennessean’s request for evidence of the discount.

In a related development, court records show that Spalding’s sister has filed a motion to replace Stuart as the conservator. The motion cites the fact that the sister would serve without charging a fee.

Everette Parrish, the attorney for Myra Whitaker, the sister, said a hearing on the motion is scheduled for next week.

Whitaker was originally named as Spalding’s conservator by a Hamilton County judge but resigned due to her husband’s serious illness.

The motion filed by Parrish states that Whitaker’s husband’s health has improved and she now lives in nearby Hendersonville.

“Ms. Whitaker will be resuming her role as conservator of the person and estate of Ms. Spalding without compensation from respondent’s estate,” the motion states.

In her letter to council, which was addressed to Rules Committee Chair Anthony Davis, Stuart defended her decision to accompany her ward to the concert, stating that the ward “needed special care and attention.

“Going to the concert made her Christmas and she was grateful to me,” Stuart wrote.

Stuart also denied that she regularly charges her full hourly legal fee to perform errands for her wards.

“The great majority of the errand like services have been provided to my wards at no charge to them,” she wrote.

Kennedy, in response to the Tennessean report, promised a new review of Stuart’s fees and said he would not assign her additional cases until that review was completed.